At the Orchard
by xXRocketShark216Xx
Summary: As Evan sits on a bench admiring the orchard that he helped to revive, he runs into Jared, who he hasn't spoken to since their fight. They are quickly joined by Alana, and the three awkwardly try to mend their friendship. They might have forgiven eachother, but can they somehow forgive themselves? (Oneshot) (Jared/Alana, Implied Evan/Zoey)


**A/N:** Hey everybody! My name is Graham, but you can call me xXRocketShark216Xx. I don't usually write oneshots, but I came up with the idea for this one a few days ago, and I've been itching to write it ever since. I don't have much else to say without going into spoilers, so I guess we'll just dive in. Hopefully you guys enjoy.

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 **Disclaimer: Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Steven Levenson haven't offered me the rights to Dear Evan Hansen. What's up with that?**

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Evan took a long, drawn out breath, deeply inhaling clean fresh air before exhaling it through his mouth and nose. As Zoey left the orchard, he turned his attention towards the beautiful scenery before him, taking in the grass, the leaves, and of course, the trees. Beautiful, beautiful trees. Scanning the open fields with his eyes, he began to lose himself-he watched people as they picked apples off of the trees, he casually observed families as they set out picnic blankets and began to have picnics, but mostly he just looked at the trees. He really loved trees.

Out of nowhere, a voice said, "Yo,", causing Evan to nearly jump out of his skin. Looking over his shoulder, he spotted the owner of the voice-none other than his former 'family friend' and classmate, Jared Kleinman.

"Yo," Evan echoed hollowly, finding himself unable to look the other boy in the eyes.

"Long time no see, huh...?" Jared said, his sentence less of a question and more of a statement. Noticing that the other boy's eyes seemed to be burning a hole in a nearby tree, he decided to tease him by saying, "You still have a tree fetish?"

"You still eat bath bombs?" Evan countered, prompting Jared to chuckle a bit. Evan joined in despite himself, but his voice abruptly trailed off a few seconds later. Looking down at his feet, he said, "Y'know, Jared, I...I'm really sorry,"

"Sorry?" Jared replied, looking somewhat confused. "What for?"

"Y'know, acting the way I did," Evan said as if it were obvious. "I was a total asshole to you..."

"Eh, I was an asshole first," Jared shrugged. Placing his hand on the other boy's shoulder, he said, "Look Evan, _I'm_ the one who should be apologizing to _you_. I know I haven't always been the nicest, but I gotta admit...you're like my best friend, dude."

"If that's true then why'd you treat me the way you did?" Evan questioned. He then reassured him by adding, "I'm not mad, I'm just curious."

"Well, I...I don't know, I wanted you to think I was cool, I guess," Jared admitted. Rubbing the back of his head, he said, "See, thing is...you were my only friend, and I was scared you would get sick of me so I figured if I made you think I was cooler than you-"

"-it'd make me wanna hang out with you no matter what," Evan guessed. "Jared, you should know that I'm not like that...well, okay, I guess I was for a little bit there. Like I said, I'm really sorry..."

"Don't be. What's done is done," Jared told him, slapping him lightly on the back. Folding his arms, he said, "We all make mistakes…what's important is that we learn from them."

"That's...actually a good point," Evan replied, looking up at his friend from the bench he was sitting on. "That's the most profound thing I've ever heard you say, actually."

Blinking a bit, Jared said, "I don't know whether that was a compliment or an insult, but I'll take it either way. Anyway, whatcha doing here? I think I saw you talking to Zoey just now?"

"Oh yeah, she um, asked me to meet her. I guess she forgives me for lying?" Evan shrugged. Changing the subject, he said, "Anyway, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home eating a bath bomb?"

"Eh, it's a nice day out so I figured I'd eat one out here, instead," Jared joked. Reaching up to adjust his glasses so that they sat better on his face, he said, "Nah actually, I'm meeting Alana here. In fact, here she comes now."

Turning his head, Evan saw Alana making her way towards them. Smiling at her, Jared gave her a peck on the cheek, linking hands with the girl before turning back towards Evan.

"So, you two are a thing now?" Evan asked, to which Jared nodded. Looking at the boy, Evan teased him by added, "But aren't you gay?"

This elicited a giggle from Alana. Smirking a bit, Jared said, "Y'know, I can see why you would think that, but-"

"Hi Evan," Alana said, getting over her fit of giggles. Smiling at the boy, she said, "It's good to see you,"

"You mean...you're not mad at me?"

"Nope," She replied, shaking her head. "The things you said and did hurt, but...I understand now. You were going through a really rough time-we _all_ were."

"That doesn't excuse what I did, though," Evan countered. Standing up from the bench, he continued with, "Lying, dragging you guys into the lie, using you, and then finally neglecting you...it wasn't cool. None of it."

"Maybe not, but no one's perfect." Alana pointed out. "You had a choice, and you made a bad one. It ended up hurting a lot of people, but in the end...it gave us all hope."

Gesturing towards the rest of the orchard, she continued with, "This field, these trees, the picnics, the people, the orchard...none of this would've been possible without the Connor Project. All of this...none of it would've happened without you."

"I...I suppose you're right," Evan replied. "I just...I wish I could have done more. I wish...I wish I could've helped Connor while he was still alive,"

"We all do," Jared told him. "But things just didn't work out that way. None of us knew he was hurting, we were all caught up in our own little world...and then he died. There was so much we could've done, but we just didn't know. We had no way of knowing. It sucks, but...I like to think somehow he can see what we did. Maybe wherever he is, he sees the orchard, sees all of this...and maybe now he's finally happy."

"May...maybe..." Evan said, a single tear falling down his cheek. "I...I hope so."

"Me too," Alana echoed, swallowing back some tears before forming her mouth into a small smile. Deciding to change the subject, she said, "Anyway, what have you been up to Evan? You going to college, or-?"

"I'm trying to," Evan told her. "See I um, I can't afford to go yet, so I've been working at Pottery Barn over the summer to try and save up some tuition money."

" _Pottery Barn?"_ Jared asked, unable to stop himself from laughing. "Yet _I'm_ supposedly gay?"

"I had a lot of really bad interviews before I finally nailed the whole 'talking to people' thing," Evan told him, rubbing the back of his head in slight embarrassment. "Anyway, you and Alana...how the heck did that happen?"

"Well, it just kinda happened, I guess," Alana shrugged. Looking up at Jared, she gave him a loving smile before turning back to Evan and continuing with, "After you had your meltdown, he and I started talking about how mad we were at you. We starting hanging out a lot, one thing led to another and...turns out we're kinda perfect for eachother,"

Wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close, Jared added, "It took a little bit of getting used to at first, but we definitely click in this oddly perfect way. She's somehow able to put up with my constant sarcasm and crass humor-"

"-and he's able to put up with my nonstop babbling," Alana chimed in. Kissing him on the cheek, she turned back to Evan and said, "Like I said, we're kind of a perfect match."

Letting out a bit of a chuckle, Evan said, "Well, I'm really happy for you guys."

"Thanks," Alana said with a smile.

"So...listen, I know we're all really busy getting ready for college and the future and all that jazz, but do you think maybe we can be friends again?" Jared said rather nervously. "Alana and I have been looking for a couple to double date with, maybe you and Zoey could tag along with us to the movies or-"

"Oh n-n-no, Zoey and I aren't b-back together or anything," Evan stammered awkwardly, blushing a bit at the notion. Rubbing the back of his head, he said, "She f-forgave me, but I don't think she'll ever wanna b-be with me again."

"Did you see the way she was looking at you?" Jared teased. Slugging him lightly on the arm, he said, "Hey man, lighten up. You never know, she might take you back someday. I wouldn't bet against it, that's all I'm saying."

"I don't know, I don't wanna get my hopes up," Evan told him. "Besides, even if she wanted to, I don't know if I'd get back together with her. I mean, we've both grown a lot over the past year. We're different people, now."

"That is true," Alana said. "I'd wait and see, though. Life's really short, and you never know what may or may not come next."

"Good point," Evan replied. "Either way, I'd love to be friends again,"

"I'm glad. Anyway, Alana and I were thinking of grabbing some ice cream at Ala Mode, you wanna come with?"

"You don't mind me being a third-wheel?" Evan asked, to which the two shook their heads. "You sure?"

"Don't worry, I'm not like you. I can be a friend _and_ a boyfriend at the same time," Jared said in a joking tone. Seeing him look down at his feet, he quickly said, "Relax, I'm just kidding!"

Rolling her eyes at her boyfriend's social-clumsiness, Alana said, "C'mon, let's get some ice cream."

With that, the three friends left the orchard together, feeling much happier and more hopeful than when they came. As they trudged up the hill and headed towards the parking lot, a single thought came into their minds:

 _Connor may be gone…_ Evan thought to himself. _But his legacy will live on forever._

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 **A/N:** What'd you think? Corny, huh? Probably, but so was the musical so...yeah.

Anyway, I came up with this idea out of faint curiosity. As you might remember from the ending of DEH, Evan never made up with Jared or Alana. Heck, he never even talked to either of them again, they kinda just showed up for the finale and sang with the choir before the curtain call. Myself and a lot of other fans found the lack of a resolution between the three kind of disappointing, so I started to wonder what would have happened if they had made up. As for the Jared/Alana pairing, I know the musical lightly implied that Jared was in the closet, but I've always kinda shipped him with Alana anyway. Something about the way they interacted throughout the story, idk.

Anyway, that's pretty much all I have to say on the matter. Feel free to leave a review telling me your thoughts, good or bad. I love to hear people's feedback and constructive criticism, it helps me to grow as a writer and its just fun to see what people have to say about my work. I don't know if I'll ever write anymore DEH fics, but I have a few ideas, so I just might. (Don't be surprised if you see a DEH multichap from me in the future is all I'm saying)

For now though, I gotta run. It's like 2:00am here and I'm getting pretty sleepy. Peace out, ya'll :)


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